A blog devoted to the discussion of the greatest movies ever made, or The Essential Films. From the beginning of cinema history to present day, these films are crucial to the education of anyone who loves the art of film making.

You solved the box, we came. Now you must come with us, taste our pleasures.

91 - From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Writer: Robert Rodriguez

Stars: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel

Genre: Vampires, Action Horror

All right, vampire killers... let's kill some fucking vampires.

90 - Saw (2004)

Director: James Wan

Writers: Leigh Whannel

Stars: Leigh Whannel, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover

Genre: Serial Killer, Torture Horror

Congratulations. You are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore.

89 - Cloverfield (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves

Writer: Drew Goddard

Stars: Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan

Genre: Monster Movie, Sci-Fi Horror

My name is Robert Hawkins. It's 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, some... thing attacked the city. I don't know what it is. If you found this tape, I mean if you're watching this right now, then you probably know more about it than I do.

88 - Re-Animator (1985)

Director: Stuart Gordon

Writers: Dennis Paoli, William Norris, Stuart Gordon

Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton

Genre: Zombies, Comedy Horror

Who's going to believe a talking head? Get a job in a sideshow.

87 - Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Director: E. Elias Merhige

Writer: Steven Katz

Stars: John Malkovich, Willem DeFoe, Udo Kier

Genre: Vampires

This is hardly your picture any longer.

86 - Buried (2010)

Director: Rodrigo Cortes

Writer: Chris Sparling

Stars: Ryan Reynolds

Genre: Psychological Horror

I need one million dollars by nine o'clock tonight or I'll be left to die in this coffin!

85 - Gremlins (1984)

Director: Joe Dante

Writer: Chris Columbus

Stars: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton

Genre: Comedy Horror, Creature Feature, Dark Fantasy

So if your air conditioner goes on the fritz or your washing machine blows up or your video recorder conks out; before you call the repairman turn on all the lights, check all the closets and cupboards, look under all the beds, 'cause you never can tell there just might be a gremlin in your house.

84 - Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

Director: Neil Jordan

Writer: Anne Rice

Stars: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas

Genre: Vampires, Gothic Horror

Her blood coursed through my veins sweeter than life itself. And as it did, Lestat's words made sense to me. I knew peace only when I killed and when I heard her heart in that terrible rhythm, I knew again what peace could be.

83 - Tremors - (1990)

Director: Ron Underwood

Writers: S.S. Wilson & Brent Maddock

Stars: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter

Genre: Monster Movie

That's how they git you. They're under the goddamned ground!

82 - Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi

Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier

Genre: Occult, Supernatural

I desire the SOUL of Christine Brown. We will FEAST upon it while she festers in the grave!

81 - Shutter Island (2010)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer: Laeta Kalogridis

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo

Genre: Thriller, Psychological

Which would be worse - to live as a monster? Or to die as a good man?

80 - Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Director: Rowland V. Lee

Writer: Wyllis Cooper

Stars: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi

Genre: Monster Movie

My father drew that very lightening from heaven and forced it for his own will to bring life to a being he created with his own hands. Why should we fear anything?

79 - Horror of Dracula (1958)

Director: Terence Fisher

Writer: Jimmy Sangster

Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough

Genre: Vampires

I am Dracula and I welcome you to my house.

78 - Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Director: Adrian Lyne

Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin

Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello

Genre: Psychological Horror, Thriller

If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. If you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.

Only demons should fear me. You're not a demon are you? The angel said you were. I can't believe that. I won't. You're my son, and I love you more than my own life. You know what's funny about all this? I'm afraid of you.

71 - Candyman (1992)

Director: Bernard Rose

Writer: Bernard Rose

Stars: Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd

Genre: Supernatural

If you look in the mirror and you say his name 5 times, he'll appear behind you breathing down your neck.

70 - Army of Darkness (1992)

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi

Stars: Bruce Campbell, Embetz Davis, Marcus Gilbert

Genre: Zombies, Comedy Horror

Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.

69 - The Lost Boys (1987)

Director: Joel Schumacher

Writers: Janice Fischer, James Jeremias, Jeffrey Boam

Stars: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Keifer Sutherland

Genre: Vampires, Comedy Horror

One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.

68 - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Writer: James V. Hart

Stars: Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins

Genre: Vampires, Gothic

She lives beyond the grace of God, a wanderer in the outer darkness. She is "vampyr", "nosferatu".

I was the one who brought them here. I was the one that said "keep going south." I was the one who said that we were not lost. It was my fault, because it was my project. I am so scared! I don't know what's out there. We are going to die out here! I am so scared!

65 - The Changeling (1980)

Director: Peter Medak

Writers: William Gray & Diana Maddox

Stars: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas

Genre: Ghost Story, Psychological

That house is not fit to live in. No one's been able to live in it. It doesn't want people.

64 - House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Director: William Castle

Writer: Robb White

Stars: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long

Genre: Ghost Story, Haunted House

Only the ghosts in this house are glad we're here.

63 - Near Dark (1987)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Writers: Kathryn Bigelow, Eric Red

Stars: Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton

Genre: Vampires

Caleb, those people back there, they wasn't normal. Normal folks, they don't spit out bullets when you shoot 'em, no sir.

62 - Poltergeist (1982)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Writers: Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor

Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson

Genre: Haunted House, Supernatural

They're heeeeeere...

61 - The Machinist (2004)

Director: Brad Anderson

Writer: Scott Kosar

Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

Genre: Psychological

If you were any thinner, you wouldn't exist.

60 - Carrie (1976)

Director: Brian De Palma

Writer: Lawrence D. Cohen

Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving

They're all gonna laugh at you.

59 - Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette

Genre: Slasher

Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!

58 - They Live (1988)

Director: John Carpenter

Writer: John Carpenter

Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

Genre: Action Horror, Sci-Fi Horror

I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubble gum.

57 - The Omen (1976)

Director: Richard Donner

Writer: David Seltzer

Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens

Genre: Occult

The child is dead. He breathed for a moment. Then he breathed no more. The child is dead. Dead. The child is dead.

56 - The Others (2001)

Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Writer: Alejandro Amenábar

Stars: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan

Genre: Ghost Story, Haunted House

Sometimes the world of the living gets mixed up with the world of the dead.

55 - The Haunting (1963)

Director: Robert Wise

Writers: Nelson Gidding (screenplay), Shirley Jackson (novel)

Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom and Richard Johnson

Genre: Haunted House

An evil old house, the kind some people call haunted, is like an undiscovered country waiting to be explored. Hill House had stood for 90 years and might stand for 90 more. Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there... walked alone.

You see, we're both going left. You could have just as easily been going left too and if that was the case, it would have been awhile before you started getting scared. But since you're going the other way, I'm afraid you're gonna have to start getting scared... immediately!

41 - 28 Days Later (2002)

Director: Danny Boyle

Writer: Alex Garland

Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston

Genre: Zombies

If you look at the whole life of the planet, we... you know, man, has only been around for a few blinks of an eye. So if the infection wipes us all out, that is a return to normality.

So, how do we know who's human? If I was an imitation, a perfect imitation, how would you know it was really me?

39 - Misery (1990)

Director: Rob Reiner

Writer: William Goldman

Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth

Genre: Thriller

I am your number one fan. There is nothing to worry about. You are going to be just fine. I am your number one fan.

38 - The Birds (1963)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writer: Evan Hunter

Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette

Genre: Thriller

Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from! I think you're evil. EVIL!

37 - Zombieland (2009)

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson

Genre: Zombies, Comedy Horror

Oh, America. I wish I could tell you that this was still America, but I've come to realize that you can't have a country without people. And there are no people here. No, my friends. This is now the United States of Zombieland.

Today, the entire Eastern Seaboard is alive with talk of incidents of paranormal activity. Alleged ghost sightings and related supernatural occurances have been reported across the entire Tri-State area.

An invisible man can rule the world. Nobody will see him come, nobody will see him go. He can hear every secret. He can rob, and rape, and kill!

32 - Peeping Tom (1960)

Director: Michael Powell

Writer: Leo Marks

Stars: Karlheinz Böhm, Anna Masse, Moira Shearer

Genre: Thriller, Serial Killer

Do you know what the most frightening thing in the world is? It's fear.

31 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Director: Don Siegel

Writers: Daniel Mainwaring

Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates

Genre: Sci-Fi Horror

They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...!

30 - Freaks (1932)

Director: Tod Browning

Writer: Clarence Aaron 'Tod' Robbins

Stars: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova

Genre: Psychological Horror

We accept you, one of us! Gooble Gobble!

29 - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Director: Robert Aldrich

Writers: Lukas Heller

Stars: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono

Genre: Thriller

But you *are*, Blanche! You *are* in that chair!

28 - The Evil Dead (1981)

Director: Sam Raimi

Writer: Sam Raimi

Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor

Genre: Zombies, Supernatural

You will die! Like the others before you, one by one, we will take you.

27 - Black Swan (2010)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writers: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin

Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel

Genre: Psychological Horror

I had the craziest dream last night about a girl who has turned into a swan, but her prince falls for the wrong girl and she kills herself.

26 - Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director: George A. Romero

Writer: George A. Romero

Stars: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger

Genre: Zombies

Many have died, last week, on these streets. In the basement of this building, you will find them. I have given them the last rites. Now, you do what you will. You are stronger than us. But soon, I think they be stronger than you. When the dead walk, señores, we must stop the killing... or lose the war.

He chose you, honey! From all the women in the world to be the mother of his only living son!

13 - Aliens (1986)

Director: James Cameron

Writers: James Cameron, David Giler

Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn

Genre: Action Horror, Sci-Fi Horror

We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly.

12 - Se7en (1995)

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker

Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Gwenyth Platrow

Genre: Serial Killer, Thriller

We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever.

I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes... the *devil's* eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... *evil*.

No sir, YOU are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I ought to know: I've always been here.

1 - The Exorcist (1973)

Director: William Friedkin

Writers: William Peter Blatty

Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair

Genre: Supernatural, Occult

Especially important is the warning to avoid conversations with the demon. We may ask what is relevant but anything beyond that is dangerous. He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that - do not listen.